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Benighted Soul are currently recording their first full album, following a couple of years of powerful performances at various rock and metal festivals around Europe.

Jay is an expressive and, at times, thrilling vocalist, combining theatrical movements and soaring vocals in many of the band’s songs. She stands out as a creative and passionate front-woman and it’s no surprise the band have been a success at Metal Ladies Fest and H’elles On Stage (for example).

Jay’s operatic style is emphasised during the frequent duets with five-string-bass player Djang, his deep vocals and growls providing contrast and depth. The music is further lifted by one of the most energetic drummers, Niko, and his solid combination of rock and metal styles.

As you can see and hear from their posts on YouTube, Benighted Soul drive forward with plenty of nods to progressive rock – is Jay the new Peter Gabriel and guitarist Jeyms the new Townsend?

Symphonic Metal, Gothic Metal, Female-Fronted Metal – all are perfect descriptions for this band and I hope they gain a huge following with their new album. This is powerful, intelligent and thrilling music, appealing to heart, mind and feet!

Just when you thought you knew the line-up of Wings of Plague, whoops there goes another player. Winds of Change could serve them well as a new band name if the need arises.

Kristen Randall(photo left) had been in the band two years and a constant feature in just about every metal magazine that boasted a calendar. Kristen is also well-known in tattoo magazines and is soon to be seen on LA Ink with Kat von D.

But after a big “thank you” to the Winds, Kristen is off to pursue her own musical direction, plus exposure of and in websites and magazines concerning ink. The LA Ink episode is scheduled for next month (February).

In a press release Kristen said: “The experiences we shared have been such a huge part of my life the past couple years and I will cherish that forever. As for myself, music is my deepest passion.”

The next new keyboard player for the Winds was Lisa Marx(photo right), also a model at times like Kristen. Lisa had previousy played with Kittie and Day of Contempt and was invited to join Winds on the California Love tour which also included Stick To Your Guns, Sleeping Giant, Oceano and Circle of Contempt .

Latest news is that former The Breathing Process keyboardist Alana Potocnik(photo left) has replaced Lisa on a fulltime basis.

And, you guessed it, Alana has also had a ModelMayhem profile. Guess the guys in Winds have great talent at using Google to find their new band members – lol.

Because there’s a hefty list below, we’ll not comment on every song. Social Media with a music focus (MySpace, Pandora, Last.FM) has been of enormous importance in the past 10 years. As well as being platforms and tools that have liberated music, they’ve become gatherings of fans and lists by the millions.

Web 2.0 allows us to bookmark, collate and re-process information in a wonderful variety of ways. We use Last.FM extensively, not least because we live most of the year outside the US of A (see footnote regarding Pandora). The list below has been gathered from “loved” tracks in people’s playlists.

Rather than say there is one winner or a ranking based on votes for a particular song, we’ve awarded Gold medals to 17 bands/projects. We’ve taken the view that, like the Olympics, it can be difficult to precisely judge styles of music. Is a gold in a marathon of more “value” than the long jump?

The 54 tracks below are the best we’ve heard and noted over the past few years, representing many albums and changes in line-ups of the various groups of musicians over the past 10 years. They are, we say, among the Best of the Decade for:

Femme metal

Gothic Metal

Symphonic Metal

or whatever other descriptive term you’d like to use. And yes, you’re very welcome to tell us how right or wrong we are!

Visions of Atlantis – At the Back of Beyond
Visions of Atlantis – Pharaoh’s Repentance

Within Temptation – Angels
Within Temptation – Ice Queen
Within Temptation – Memories
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – Jillian (I’d Give My Heart)
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – Stand My Ground
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – The Promise
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – What Have You Done (Featuring Keith Caputo)

This companion piece to The Social Media Decade #1 is our award of Silver medals to bands/projects. Any list of Best Of is subject to discussion (and dispute) and we welcome your comments.

The 30 tracks below grabbed our ears more than once but, for some reason, other songs by the artists failed to impress as much. For example, other Tristania tracks didn’t get added to many lists, while Elis (on our Gold list) received numerous mentions for their 3 tracks.

We reckon a Silver medal is still fantastic when weighted against the tens of thousands of other tracks out there. Listen and enjoy.

ReVamp, the new project of gothic metal vocalist Floor Jansen is coming together and signs of new music are starting to emerge.

In releasing a sample Floor explains: “We know you have waiting with great patience for some music! Hereby a short part of our song Head Up High!!! Do realize this is pre-production material, you hear a drum computer and home recorded bass, guitar, keyboards and vocals. We did mix it so it sounds OK enough, but it’s not the quality the album will have!”

If you’ve missed our tweets about Delain, here’s a great introduction. The track Stay Forever includes so many great moments – the band at full force, Charlotte’s soaring vocals, gentle symphonic passages, huge and thunderous choruses – whew: